And Sanjay Rakhra, who was stuck in the queue at Game, said: “It’s just crazy how people act to pick up a few deals.”

Shoppers also waited outside Debenhams at the West Orchards Shopping Centre where all women’s designer dresses were half price. Deals included £130 Jenny Packham dresses for just £35.

Senior sales manager Sally Cooper said: “We had people queuing at the shutters this morning. Customers have been coming in asking for the Black Friday offers.

“There were queues at the tills at 9.05am.

“You can’t even walk between the customers in the fragrance hall. They’ve got their best offer of the year on down there.

“We’ve brought in extra staff to support customer services and all of the management team are in to help.”

Many shoppers also took to the internet to get their Black Friday deals.

One said: “There’s just so much hype around nothing. I’d rather stay in bed for a few hours and do online shopping.”

Carl Whittaker, manager at The Entertainer, in the Lower Precinct, said: “Customers have been queuing around the shop this morning. We’ve had a lot of people coming in to collect online deliveries.”

But he added: “However we expect it to be busy at this time of year.

“Most people are just coming in to get their regular Christmas shopping and Black Friday has provided an incentive for them buy more.”

Anna Lewis, assistant manager at Boots, where teeth whitening products were half price, said: “We are busier today but a lot of it is coming from people who have brought items online and are having them delivered to store.

“The online deals are better than those in store.”

But many high street stores and independent traders said that Black Friday hadn’t lived up to the hype.

Kyle Barnes, who works at Jack & Jones, in The Precinct, said: “There has been more hype around Black Friday this year and business has been better, but there’s been no queues out of the door.”

Jessica Mann, of Top Shop, in Broadgate, said: “We haven’t noticed much of a difference in sales compared with a normal day.

“We’re running a Black Friday week because practically a lot of people can’t get the time off work to go shopping on Black Friday.”

And John Moore, manager at Kong, in Burges, where discounts of 15 per cent were being offered on some lines, said: “It’s been busy for us this morning because we’ve had a Jordan launch.

“It’s harder though for smaller shops to offer the discounts because of the mark ups.”